SAULT STE. MARIE — If it was up to Dennis Brooks, the Sault's Gus Macker chairperson, he'd give the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament held over the weekend the grade of a solid B.

"We had great weather and we ordered that," he joked. "The officiating crew did a heck of a job. From players and the family of players we didn't hear any complaints. If you don't hear complaints from players about officiating, that's an earmark of a successful tournament. That's what we had."

Over 100 teams converged on the streets around city hall on Saturday and Sunday, playing in the sporting event that used to be a community staple in the early 1990s. After taking a 19-year hiatus, the festival-like tournament returned last weekend.

In addition to the games, the event featured food vendors, children's activities and a variety of live entertainment.

Since January, when the decision was made to bring the tournament back, city officials and volunteers have been hard at work planning and organizing the athletic event.

Event organizers signed a one-year contract with Gus Macker, hoping to gauge the local community's reaction and involvement. Luckily for Brooks, the Sault and surrounding areas really rallied to make the fundraising idea a reality.

"All of the elements seemed to come into place," he said. "If any issues came up, volunteers took care of them. We're pretty happy with it (over all)."

After operational expenses — trucking of equipment, printing of brochures and other signage, tent rental, purchasing of Gus Macker licenses and trophy construction — funds gathered will be split between school sports programs throughout the Eastern U.P. and Hospice of the EUP.

Currently, tournament officials have not completed the tabulation of fundraising figures.

Though numerous community residents, volunteers and basketball players would love to see the event return next year, that's a decision that hasn't been made yet, Brooks explained.

"The next step is to determine if we want to do it again," he said. "I think people responded well to it and it would be accepted if done again. We think it would get bigger.

"Certain things came up, but we'll learn from them if we do it next year. We're tabulating to see how to fix problems if it's done again."

Tournament officials hope to begin discussing the possibility of a two-year contract with Gus Macker in early August.

As far as the 2013 tournament goes though, Brooks believes things couldn't have gone any smoother.

"Volunteers were the ones who did this, not me," he said. "The city crew took care of a lot of stuff. We couldn't have done it without them. We're pretty happy and it could not have gone any better."